Dehumidifiers don’t have to be noisy, and there are some good near-silent options. They will work discreetly in your home without interfering with your sleep or work, so a quiet mode or eco mode is well worth any extra, particularly if it will save you some cash in running costs. Within the app, Midea has its own voice-activated smart assistant to control the dehumidifier (or any other Midea smart appliance), but if you have it connected to Alexa, this feels pretty redundant. A compressor dehumidifier is almost like a mini-fridge that cools the air and converts it into water that you can pour away,” says Ryan Kandola, a dehumidifier expert from Aircon Centre, “whereas desiccants take the air and run it over a rotating flywheel which absorbs the moisture, before heating it so the wheel doesn’t get saturated.” How do you know when you need a dehumidifier? It’s slightly louder and consumes more power than the equivalent refrigerant, but can also run more effectively over shorter periods. That makes it a good bet for drying clothes or using in an outside office, garage or workshop where damp is becoming a problem, and it’s relatively lightweight and portable to boot.

Compressor dehumidifiers work in much the same way as a fridge or freezer. They draw in air and cool it, condensing any moisture as it passes across a refrigerated coil. The water then drips off into a water tank below, while the air is reheated and released into the room. Compressor dehumidifiers can be noisy and may use more energy than other types, although new compressor technology and refrigerants are bringing improvements on both counts. They’re most efficient at warmer temperatures of 20°C and above, and your best bet if you need to remove lots of moisture from a larger space. It’s bad for you because bugs and mould love high humidity levels. Dust mites and mould spores thrive and can trigger allergies, skin irritation and respiratory problems such as asthma. Moods and general wellness can also be affected. However, I wish the company would add two-factor authentication to its app. Midea 20 pint cube dehumidifier: Verdict Like the DeLonghi higher up, the British-made Ebac 4850 has a dedicated laundry boost function that helps reduce the drying time of your damp laundry when it’s inside. If you have a particularly humid environment, you can also connect a small drain hose to the bottom of the unit and have it empty out into a sink or wherever.That will be especially useful over the winter months as it means you won’t have to keep your heating on as long to dry your clothes, reducing your energy bills in the process,” says Chris Wood from Aircon Direct. The recommended humidity for your home is 40-60 per cent in the summer months and between 30-50 per cent in the winter. You can measure it with a hygrometer (a humidity gauge - they’re not expensive). If it goes over 70 per cent, you run the risk of condensation, damp, mould, fungi and bacteria. That’s when you need a dehumidifier. Which is better, a compressor or desiccant dehumidifier? However, it’s worth looking out for newer and more energy-efficient designs. For example, Meaco’s MeacoDry Arete One 20L costs around 6p per hour to run, based on an electricity rate of 28.3p per kWh, while some models will cost significantly more at the same rate. Use your dehumidifier daily for a couple of hours and the difference soon mounts up. If you’re only planning to dehumidify occasionally – for a few hours here or there in a kitchen or bathroom, for instance – you can get away with a mini-dehumidifier with an extraction rate of less than one litre. It will be cheap to buy, cheap to run and perfectly effective. The same applies if you’re trying to fight damp or mould in a smaller area, such as a wardrobe, utility room or box bedroom.

It all depends on how much space you need to dehumidify. Dehumidifiers are often rated in terms of their extraction rate: how much water they can remove from the air in a single day. This is separate from their water tank capacity, which covers how much water they can store before you need to empty them out. In reality, it’s probably a little too powerful for my needs, instead I’d recommend it to anyone with large, open-plan rooms in their houses or a big house with open doors, where it can sit in a hallway. While the power of 290 Watts means it only costs around 8p per hour, there are still lower energy options on this list that anyone with a smaller house or flat should consider. Domestic dehumidifiers can extract up to 25 litres of water per day. We have largely focused on 20l models since these are the most popular for domestic use. For larger spaces, damper environments or colder temperatures, choose something more powerful. (Or vice versa for smaller spaces.)With advice from air conditioning experts Ryan Kandola and Chris Wood and with help from others in The Telegraph Recommended team, I have tried and tested the best dehumidifiers on the market for energy efficiency, drying power, value for money and, where possible, quiet running. “Remember, size isn’t everything,” Ryan says. “Look at the area you’re dealing with and choose the right size of unit. You’ll be surprised at just how powerful some of the small dehumidifiers are.” High demand The controls on the unit are fairly clear, and let you control, among other things, the fan speed and mode settings. For example, you can set the dehumidifier to run continuously on High, or you can have it run until the humidity level drops to a certain level. With a two-litre tank, it might need emptying more regularly than some models, but there’s a 1m hose if you need continuous draining into a sink or drain. And while there’s no timer, you do get a laundry mode and a choice of quiet and turbo functions, and the rotary control is – as advertised – simple and easy to use. The beauty of a desiccant dehumidifier is not only that they are typically quieter than compressor models, but they are ideal for smaller, unheated areas such as conservatories, campervans, garages, boats and cellars. They’re also fantastically efficient. Keep it running all day long and the costs could mount up, but this is an excellent dehumidifier for situations where a refrigerant model just won’t work.

If you’ve ever had reason to ask yourself ‘what is the best dehumidifier?’ it was probably with a sense of desperation over mould in your bathroom that just won’t shift, or window condensation forever puddling on the sills. Humidity can be a real problem. A dehumidifier is your best defence. High-capacity dehumidifiers are usually power-hungry and noisy, but the MeacoDry Arete One is designed to do more with less energy and a lower volume, topping out at 40dB during typical use and keeping consumption to around 200W. In fact, both figures fall dramatically as humidity levels start to drop. It’s an excellent dehumidifier for larger spaces and, unlike most compressor models, will work at temperatures of between 5 and 25°C. When it’s in this automatic mode, the noise varies between 37dB (fine) and 46dB (pretty loud) so I set the timer to switch it off at 10:30pm every night, so it didn’t bother me as I drifted off. The other options, operated by buttons on top of the machine, include adjusting the fan speed, increasing or decreasing the target humidity and switching between laundry drying, continuous or SMD (smart dehumidification). Dehumidifiers are the best way to reduce humidity in your home and many are cost effective and energy efficient. They range from bathroom dehumidifiers to compact ones for your car and even ones you can control from your mobile phone. Small dehumidifiers are ideal for flats or smaller spaces, while the bigger models can dehumidify a five-bedroom property or a small business space. Peltier dehumidifiers also cool the air and condense the moisture content into water, but they do it using a cold heat-sink rather than a compressor. They’re not as effective as compressors, removing smaller amounts of water in a given time, but they’re quieter and more energy-efficient. Peltier dehumidifiers tend to be compact, lightweight units designed for smaller spaces.

The best dehumidifiers you can buy in 2023 1. De’Longhi Tascuigo AriaDry Multi 16L: The best dehumidifier for small to mid-sized homes Performance-wise it draws 350 Watts, making it one of the most powerful on this list at a competitive price. I tested it in my shower room, where I usually keep a window open to prevent mould. As the mornings get chillier this dehumidifier is the perfect replacement, keeping any mould at bay and the heating in. The auto-defrosting function also means it can carry on working when the temperature drops. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ The Midea 20 pint cube dehumidifier was put to the test following hurricane Ida; while it had been downgraded to a tropical storm, it still dumped more than 8 inches of rain in our town over just a few hours. While my house escaped without issue, my friend’s finished basement flooded, soaking his carpet.

For a bathroom, you should position the dehumidifier just outside the bathroom door and ensure the door is left open so the unit can draw the moist air towards it. If you’re drying clothes, just place the dehumidifier in the room, making sure the door and windows are all closed. This varies according to the design, size and extraction rate. Generally speaking, desiccant dehumidifiers use more energy per hour than a compressor model, but can also work more effectively at removing moisture, which means costs tend to even out. Don’t get too excited about this dehumidifier’s smart capabilities. You can connect it to your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth, but the app is little more than a glorified remote control with only basic scheduling features and no way to integrate with existing air quality meters you might have hooked up. That aside, it’s a well-designed and effective dehumidifier, capable of extracting up to 20 litres per day into a larger-than-average six-litre tank. We found this surprisingly easy to remove from the rear of the machine when full, with a built-in handle for carrying.

5. MeacoDry 12L Arete® One Dehumidifier

This EcoAir model can extract up to seven litres of moisture per day, and as a desiccant-type dehumidifier, it works at lower temperatures than your average refrigerant device. If you have a small space that’s prone to damp air, like a kitchen or a bathroom, you need a dehumidifier that’s compact and quiet. Standing 22cm high and weighing little more than a bag of sugar, unlike some dehumidifiers The ProBreeze is easy to move around and won’t stand out like a sore thumb once it’s in place. Rather than being a compressor or a desiccant, the ProBreeze instead uses peltier technology, similar to that used in some mini fridges, to cool water vapour into water. It’s much quieter than the other methods. It’s the setting with the highest ventilation speed and dehumidifying capacity. In my testing, I found it to really work. I don’t struggle too badly with mould in winter but I do find it difficult to dry clothes (I’m a little too stoic about not switching on the heating). With this DeLonghi dehumidifier sat next to my standard, non-heated clothes airer, my washing dried within a few hours, including a pair of jeans and a hoodie.